Best Italian Restaurants in the U.S.

Where to sample the best Italian food this side of the Atlantic, whether you’re craving pizza or a chef’s tasting menu starring prosciutto and truffles.

Trattoria Lucca, Charleston, SC

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In downtown Charleston’s Elliotborough, Ken Vedrinski celebrates family-style dining, paying tribute to his grandmother who grew up in the Abruzzo region. There are imported cheese and salumi, and hand-rolled pastas, but Vedrinski is perhaps best known locally for his commitment to farm-to-table produce and fresh seafood from the waters surrounding Charleston. So you can’t go wrong ordering any of the crudos the chef has put on the menu. Or put your meal entirely in his hands by joining the Monday evening family supper, a communal seating during which Vedrinski serves a new four-course prix fixe menu for $38.

Best Italian Restaurants in the U.S.

Trattoria Lucca, Charleston, SC

In downtown Charleston’s Elliotborough, Ken Vedrinski celebrates family-style dining, paying tribute to his grandmother who grew up in the Abruzzo region. There are imported cheese and salumi, and hand-rolled pastas, but Vedrinski is perhaps best known locally for his commitment to farm-to-table produce and fresh seafood from the waters surrounding Charleston. So you can’t go wrong ordering any of the crudos the chef has put on the menu. Or put your meal entirely in his hands by joining the Monday evening family supper, a communal seating during which Vedrinski serves a new four-course prix fixe menu for $38.

“There are two kinds of people in the world,” chef Mario Batali said recently at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, CO, “those who are Italian, and those who wish they were Italian.”

No wonder: Italian restaurants across America are raising the bar. Think of all the Neapolitan pizzerias opened in the past decade, the focus on handmade pastas and authentic ingredients, and hip concepts like Torrisi Italian Specialties, which put New York’s Little Italy back on the serious foodie’s map. Consider the success of Batali himself: his Del Posto is the first four-star Italian restaurant in New York since 1974, and his emporium Eataly teems with both locals and tourists.

Just when you think Italian can’t get any hotter, it does. So what are America’s best Italian restaurants? And should four-star restaurants be considered alongside exemplary pizzerias like Frank Pepe in New Haven, CT, and Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix? Heck, yes. For an Italian restaurant to be considered truly great, it should do what it does best.

At Trattoria Lucca, which opened in Charleston, SC, in 2008, that means dishes that showcase fresh local seafood, from the crudo of grouper to homemade ricotta cavatelli with flounder in a shellfish broth. For a truly special treat, time your visit to the Monday evening family supper, a communal seating during which chef Ken Vedrinski serves a four-course prix fixe menu for $38.

While there’s a charm to old-school places like Bamonte’s in Brooklyn, we skewed to innovative recent arrivals like Trattoria Lucca and to longtime restaurants that have upped their game beyond the red-sauce standards, such as Chicago’s romantic Spiaggia, overlooking Lake Michigan, and San Francisco’s Acquerello, where the tasting menu includes parmesan budino with piquillo peppers and pickled Italian eggplant.